Tank block for glass furnaces



' 1,630,892 May 3,1 1927 J. L. CRAWFORD TANK BLOCK FOR GLASS FURNACESA Filed June 1l, 1925 VENTOR Jame Crawf'od ATTORNEY5 Patented 'May 31, 1927.'

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JAMES L. CRAWFORD, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, ASSIGNOR '.lO LACLEDE-CI-IRISTY CLAY PRODUCTS COMPANY, OF ST. LOUIS,MISSOURI,

A CORPORATION OF MISSOURI.y

TANK Bnocx non Grass rUnNAcEs.

Application led June 1 1,

This invention relates to'tank'blocks for glass furnaces; in particular toa novel form .of block .-especially designed to resist c'orrofi slon. v

A laigeproportion of all glass manufactured is made in large tanks which are built of fire clay refractory blocks of various sizes. It is quite common totmake the side walls of two courses of blocks, the total'` height ofthe Wall being about 42 inches and its thickness 12 inches. The inner face of thev walls which contacts with the molten glass is usually' vertical. -Oneof the most serious diiiiculties with which the glass manufacturer has to contend is the rapid corrosion of these so-called liuxblocks by the action of the 'molten glass. It is the object of the present invention to design a block of such form that thiscorrosion shall be minimized or inany event retarded.

lIn Figure lfof the accompanying 'drawings IV have illustrated a fragmentary section throu h the side walls and bottom of a glass melting tank showing the manner in which the corrosion of the flux blocks takes place. In Figure 2 I have illustrated a similar section"througli Ia tank in which the blocksused in the upper courses of the side walls are made in accordance ent invention.

I shall first describe the cofrosion withl special reference to Figure l.. \In thisfigure, 1 represents the side wall of the tank madeup of two courses of' flux blocks,.2 i the bottom ofthe tank, and 3 `the molten glass. It 'has been noticed that the glass inV the tank Hows down along the sidewall in vthe direction indicatedby-the arrows. This -l iow of the glass downwardl along the side lwall and upwardin` the center of the tank hasbeen attributed to differences in tem-` perature or convection currents.A It is believed that the corroding of the iiuX block is due 4to thefiow of the glass against the face of the uppervblock at 4 where it attacks the refractory, becomes saturated with it and forms a heavier glass which passes down along the side wall andprotects the lower part of the wall from corrosion. In ave short time a new tankwillztake the shape@ shown in Figure 1 by the line 5.. Eventually the'A corrosion -will .go so farth'at the inner 'face of the side walls assumes the form and position indicated by the Aline.6.

inclined face and -discovered that the original smooth face of with the pres- 192'5. seriali No. 36331.

In accordance with the present invention I make either part 4-or all of the side wall with an inclined corrugated face asindicated at 7 in Figure 2. This retards the corrosion and-greatly prolongs the life of the tank. 'My'explanation of this is as follows: lVhen the glass current strikes this dissolves part of. the re? fractory, the saturated glass is heldin situ4 by the inclined face and this saturated glass protects the clay from further disintegra? tion. By holding a protective coating of this saturated glass on the surface of the block I can greatly retard corrosion. I have the block ,is much more resista-nt to corrosion than after the glass haseaten into it and roughened it. Therefore, by retarding the corrosion at its inception I- make it doubly easy to prolong thelife of the block.

In the tank illustrated in Figure 2, I have shown two courses of the tluxblock, only the j upper of which is constructed in accordance witlrthe present invention. It-.is well known that glass-'melting tanks are con` 8u and various depths and that as a" rule the,

stru'cted with various numbers of courses corrosion is most severe near tank wall. In the case lof shallow tanks, it is quite possible, and perhaps desirable` to extend the inclined face to the bottom of the tank, while indeepl tanks,or in tanks melting special glass, be extended only part I claim: c l 1. A block for glass melting tanks having an outwardly inclined corrugated face. 2. A-,refractory fire clay block forv'glass melting tanks having an outwardly inclined face. designed to come-in contact with .the moltenl glass, said facebeing provided with the top of the' way as shown.

glass and clay.

tom an the inner upper face of the side walls being linclined outwardly andv provided with lonvgit'udin'al corrugations which hold in ysitu i v'zoA this inclined face may horizontal'corrugations designed" to vretard the removal ofthe saturation product of the lass'melting tank comprising boit-l 'i side walls of refractory material, 100

glass on' the material 1 05 

